Dad Breast-Feeds Daughter Because Mom Couldn’t

Becoming a new parent is both exciting, and terrifying… whether it’s for the 1st time or the 5th time. And although the act of giving birth is ever rarely straight-forward… it can be argued that the basic gist of it usually follows a standard routine.

I’m sure the Wiscoun couple Max and April Neubauer felt this way while heading into hospital to give birth to their daughter Rosalie. Get in, have a baby, get out – as is the general norm.

However, April Neubauer’s delivery was in no way a standard nor an easy one. She had pre-eclampsia and high blood pressure, and if there’s any of you out there reading this and been through the same issue, you’ll know that it’s not the most desirable combination to have during labor.

Not only that, but she also suffered a seizure which resulted in her having to have – wait for it – an emergency Caesarean section. Yeah… I know, that poor lady!

As a result of this, baby Rosalie was born on June 26th. And immediately after poor April suffered through yet another seizure and was promptly whisked away for further treatment and recovery before even getting the chance to hold her precious newborn daughter.

This was the moment that teeny little 7lb 15oz (3.6kg) Rosalie was handed to proud new dad Maxamillian, who then had to step up in a way he could never have dreamed of happening.

Maxamillian regaled the tale to the BBC:

A nurse came out with our beautiful baby girl. We went to the nursery, I sat down and took off my shirt for some skin-to-skin time,

The nurse said we needed to get her a little formula and do some finger feeding, just something to get her started.

Then the nurse asked if maybe I would like to throw a nipple on and do some real breastfeeding. Me being a big joker with the ability to try just about anything once, I said sure, why not!

The nurse got straight to work and attacthed a plastic nipple shield with a tube that was linked to a syringe filled with formula, right onto Maxamillian’s chest. Before he knew it, he was breastfeeding his own daughter like a pro! (I’m sensing some serious Dad points here)

He went on to say this about the situation:

I’ve never breastfed or even thought in a thousand years I would. I was the first to breastfeed the baby!

My mother-in-law didn’t believe what she was seeing, Great Grandpa didn’t have anything to say but he came round in the end.

I felt a connection the minute I saw my little girl. I got to hold her and help her get used to breastfeeding I hope.

Maxamillian eventually posted his story to Facebook and Instagram, and as you would hope, had a mostly positive reaction to his fatherly breastfeeding attempt, and received comments such as;

Right below the Mom tattoo, itwas meant to be!

And while alot of the well-wishers praised Maxamillian himself, there were others who praised the actual nurse who had initially offered up the option.

However, as with everything that ends up in the public eye and seems vaguely controversial, there were others who were not too sure what to make of the whole thing and posted comments such as;

Sorry! Looks odd. Use a bottle if the mom can’t breastfeed.

Such is the world eh? I for one applaud Maxamillian’s efforts! And I’m sure it’ll be a great story to tell little Rosalie when she turns 18.

Despite the post being shared just over more than 30,000 times, has had hundreds of various reactions and has been seen by people all over the world, the ever-humble super dad Maxamillian says he just did what “any dad would do”.

Well, I’m still on the fence about that one, but it’s definitely a nice thought and one I hope a lot of other dads would take into consideration if they were put in the same situation.

Maxamillian finished off by saying the sweetest thing;

I really did it just to be a good dad and be a hero for the nursing staff because they are superheroes. You couldn’t ask for anyone better.

Don’t forget those moms, though. I did it for them too.

Truly amazing!

Thank you, Maxamillian, and to all the other dads out there who step up their game each and every day! Rosalie may only be a few months old, but it seems to me she’s already one heck of a lucky little girl!